Ojha fifty nudges Central into semis

Naman Ojha's unbeaten 65 guided Central Zone to a win in a tricky chase against East Zone in the quarterfinals of the Deodhar Trophy.

Central were floundering at 82 for 5 in the 18th over, losing their middle order to Rahul Shukla and Laxmi Ratan Shukla who struck in successive overs. Ojha then steadied the innings, stitching partnerships with Piyush Chawla (24) and Karn Sharma (22). His 84-ball innings, which contained seven fours and two sixes, enabled Central to chase down the target in 43 overs.

Earlier Chawla's five-for, which included a spell in which he struck in four successive overs, restricted East Zone to 194 after they had chosen to bat.

The only substantial partnership East managed in their 46.2-over long innings was the 39-run stand between Kumar Deobrat and Laxmi Shukla for the sixth wicket. The pair took the side to 141 for 5 but once Shukla was out, the lower order could offer little resistance, losing their last four wickets to Chawla for 24 runs .